Why You Should Eat Frozen Vegetables Instead of Fresh

There's More Than One Reason You Should Be Choosing Frozen Vegetables Over Fresh

It may seem counter-intuitive to buy frozen foods over fresh ones--the displays of fresh fruits and veggies certainly look nicer than the bags in the freezer aisle, and most people assume that the fresher the product, the more nutritious it is.

But, if you're in this camp, you're all wrong.

According to The Washington Post, it's time we swap many of our fresh fruits, vegetables, and even fish for the frozen variety. The benefits are two-fold.

First, frozen vegetables are preserved sooner, meaning that their nutritional value is higher than the fresh counterparts. "The vegetables are typically shipped straight from the farm to processing facilities and frozen or canned within hour, then stabilized for months or years," JoAnne Berkencamp, senior advocate for the food and agriculture program of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The Washington Post. With fresh foods, "you could be moving form farm to packing shed to warehouse to truck to distribution facility to supermarket."

It's not just your body that benefits from choosing frozen over fresh, though: you're helping the environment, too. "About 43 percent of all food waste occurs in consumers' homes," says Berkenkamp. "It's the largest single contributor to food waste, and much of that will be fresh product."

So want to do good for the earth and your health? Ignore your instinct to pick the leafy greens and head to the freezer section-- you'll be doing a world of good.